CF-30 - Win10 Driver Issues

Hey there everyone!

Recently a coworker and myself picked up a couple really awesome Toughbooks. Well, long story short, unlike mine, his turned out to be a CF-30 MK1. (I have no idea which exact model, as the sticker specifying such is missing from the bottom of the system, and it was refurbished). I ended up upgrading mine to Windows 10 x64, which works absolutely wonderfully on my CF-30 MK3. I didn't have to update any drivers and it was completely ready to go with no issues whatsoever.

Now, my coworker's CF-30 MK1 ended up upgrading to Windows 10 x86 without warning from Windows 7 x86 the other day. (Thanks Microsoft). It worked beautifully in Windows 7, but with Windows 10 he is experiencing some very extreme lockups while doing basic tasks. From the research I've done on it, it does not appear to be a memory issue on his system, but his CPU is sitting at a constant 99% usage. I was able to resolve the worst of it by reinstalling his wireless card's driver with an older version, (as that was causing several related services to send the processor's usage through the roof), but I'm unable to identify the remaining causes. I would hate to force him to go back to Windows 7 and risk having to reinstall all of the same drivers all over again, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas here.

Everything in Device Manager appears to be fine, and no other processes are using abnormally-high processing time. He also has barely anything installed. (I believe just MS Office 2010 Student and Windows Live Mail 2012 right now, which were installed via Windows 7). The OS is also completely updated. If it helps, the system was upgraded to include the touchscreen monitor on what appears to be a non-touchscreen model, (same as mine), however that has not had any visible problems. Windows is also fully activated, and I can rule out any drive or other hardware issues. (My best guess is this is going to be a driver-based nightmare). His function keys are also not working, although I'm doubting that is the cause of the lockups.

(For what it is worth, Windows 10 x64 is freaking awesome on my CF-30 MK3!)

 

Go into services and turn off superfetch and Windows search,then check it. Also what antivirus is he using. You can roll it back to Windows 7 by going to settings,restore Win 7 if it is less then 30 days.

 

Thanks for the reply. (The forum was bugging, so I thought the post was lost). I'll give that a try and see what happens.

As for A/V, it is just the standard Windows Defender that comes with Windows 10.

I'm considering rolling him back, but I'd prefer to get the current OS working normally before that point, if possible. (He knows how to use a computer, but it isn't something he is amazing at, and I don't want to go through this down the road later when he decides he is ready for Windows 10).

 

Just a thought,I put Windows 10 on a CF-52GUN which has the same touchscreen as the CF-30. I found that the right click icon menus using the touch were completely different then normal and quite useless,very strange.

 

personally speaking ... ditch windbows deepender and go with "avast !" .
i have tried several "free" AV/AM over the years and dropped what used to be very good products and went to avast .
i turn off or do not install some things that are not needed .

i have heard/read some horror stories about the "rollback" ... yeah , it is good in theory .
some people have lost all their important stuff with that automatic rollback when it failed ...
i have been witness to this , luckily the person's laptop was pretty much a clone of their "box" and 95% of the files were duplicates .
if you want to change back , grab all the files manually and then re-install W7 via a freshly wiped hdd .
you can get one of those recovery/reinstall disks that saves the uninitiated much hair-pulling and wrist slashing .

the model features can be recovered from the bios screen ...
at least what it came out of the factory as .

 

What do you mean by they were completely different?

I personally use Avast too, but right now I'm just trying to get his system stable again. It was barely set up with Windows 7 when this nightmare came about. I'd prefer to avoid rolling him back, if at all possible. I'm just not sure what is causing his issues yet. My own system doesn't have these same problems, and it doesn't appear to be the actual OS using too much of the system's resources. (I'm still set on thinking this is a driver issue, but I have no idea which one is faulty).

 

I feel Win 10 on a mk1 is highly "optimistic" Win7 on a mk1 is challenging enough to get right.

I would roll it back to Win7 and leave it be. There are MANY things online as to disabling Win 10 auto install. It is not really auto install, more like demonic possession.

Win7, then create a recovery image for later on. Acronis is great and cheap on Newegg.

Just for fun type this into a Youtube search.

Windows 10 hidden Illuminati & Satanic Signs

 

Hard to explain....instead of the standard menu of open,delete,etc there was a completely different list and the icons would not work. It was a while ago so the old fart has forgotten exactly what the list said.

Download process explorer and start looking for the process that is running the CPU full blast,I have seen this several times on Windows 8 and 10. As I said Windows search and Superfetch are a couple of the main villains but also go into msconfig and one by one turn off start up programs.

Does it do it in safe mode?

 

That definitely sounds odd indeed!

 

Sorry for the really late bump/reply. For future reference to others, it turned out to be the WiFi card's drivers being the issue. They were massively eating memory through a system service. After setting them to an older version, the lockups stopped completely. Unfortunately, the WiFi card in the MK1 is also junk, and keeps dropping the wireless connection after reporting problems. I've purchased the same one my MK3 system has on eBay, (since that works beautifully with Windows 10), so we'll see what happens there.

 

The WiFi card on my 30 MK3 blows turds. I am assuming your MK3 has the 5100? My MK2 has the 4965 which is really strong and stable.

 

That would be correct. My co-worker's MK1 is also using the 5100 now, albeit I had to remove a specific pin for it to bypass the WiFi switch in order to work on his system. Other than that, both have been running flawlessly with the 5100 cards. If you are having issues with your card, I'd strongly recommend snagging one of the 5100's off of eBay. I got mine shipped for $5 USD.

 

My MK3 does have the 5100 and I do not like it. I'm actually going to sell my 30's as I really don't use them much ever since I got my 54. I really really need to take the time and make a listing for them. They are in 100% pristine condition to boot.

 

SR71E works great in a CF 30.
or
Swap the 5100 with an Intel 5300 and install the third antenna.

I doubt that a Intel 6300 would work in a CF30, but it would be worth a try. I know it won't show in BIOS, but windows may see it.

 

If I was still having issues, I might have experimented with those ideas! Right now everything is rock solid, but I'm sure down the road as I pick up more CF-30's, the opportunity will arise.

I ordered a Sierra MC7354 yesterday in reference to my other thread. Long live 24/7 internet access! These systems are absolutely amazing. I'll never buy another cheesy laptop ever again.

 

I said the same thing about 8 years ago.

 

Still true to your word, I see!